Is your cheek stinging 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料? No surprise there.
This town is one of many that's been summarily disrespected and dismissed with the handling of the Basi-Virk trial over the sale of BC Rail.
The trial was meant to clear up the self-serving manipulation that went on during that process nearly 10 years ago.
But now we'll never know the level of corruption that went on because the government paid $6 million to secure guilty pleas then placed a gag order on the guilty so details of the corruption doesn't come to light. Why?
老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, of all communities, has a right to know. The sale of BC Rail dramatically altered the town's economy and identity.
When the Crown Corporation changed hands despite loud and angry opposition from many of the province's rail towns, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 lost an industry and a major part of its founding culture.
Mind bogglingly, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料's mayor at the time, Ian Sutherland, who was on a committee the province's rail town mayors formed to discuss BC Rail options, did not add his voice to those of the leaders angrily opposed to the sale.
And local fears unfortunately did come true.
Almost immediately, the new operator, CN Rail, decided railway maintenance work would go elsewhere, taking along with it high paying, skilled jobs that thousands of residents had held over BC Rail's time here.
And within a few years, CN had tallied derailments that many engineers chalked up to that organization's lack of knowledge around operating in steep canyons, such as the Cheakamus.
One such derailment resulted in catastrophe when 41,000 litres of caustic soda ended up in the Cheakamus River in 2006.
Now the Crown - read: the government -has decided to sweep all the shenanigans that went on during the sale under a rug.
The term "shenanigans" may itself seem dismissive, but it applies because the goings on played out like a bunch of schoolyard bullies trying to get milk money out of a wimpy kid -remember recorded phone calls of ministerial aide Dave Basi to then finance minister Gary Collins suggesting a ploy to manipulate media?
"I wanted to have the mayor of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, who's a good friend of ours, rip [North Vancouver Mayor] Barb Sharp a new a**hole. Is that OK?" said Basi.
And Collins's response? "Absolutely."
(Sutherland said he doesn't remember being asked to play such a role and would not have participated had he been asked.)
And just as Collins and other high ranking government figures were about to take the stand, we see another shady deal where taxpayers pony up $6 million in legal fees to secure guilty pleas followed by this shameful gag order on what actually happened.
老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 and many other towns in B.C. have every right to be indignant, but the saddest part of all is many are not.
They've simply thrown hands up and said: "What do you expect? It's the government."
- Sylvie Paillard
